It is sad to say but we are out of the Telkom Knockout and we can only look back and try to figure out where we lost the match. Looking back at the overall performance, I think we made too many individual mistakes in the first half and did not pressurize Silver Stars enough.

Giving away a penalty under such circumstances with four minutes to the break was really unnecessary and proved costly. That has been the story for since the start of the season in that we concede goals from free-kicks and situations like this before we start playing and fighting.

In the second half it was a completely different story and we had a lot of possibilities to score from a short distance and dominated play. But we lost the match because we didn’t do enough especially in the first half.

When playing against a team like Silver Stars you really have to work for 90 minutes and cannot afford to relax. That is something we never did. The second half, as I said, was better compared to our first half but even then we still made some costly mistakes, like missing clear chances from three or four metres.

In the second half we were more aggressive and made better movements off the ball and we really need to start playing like that for 90 minutes on a consistent basis. It doesn’t help to be happy with the second half performance when you have lost the match. Congratulations for Stars and we wish them well in the next round.

We now have to shift our focus to the next match in the league hoping that we have learned some lessons from our defeat against Silver Stars. It is simply not good enough to start playing in the second half or after we have conceded a goal. We need to play from the first minute and focus for 90 minutes.

Playing Black Leopards will not be easy. We know how difficult it will be but we have to make our intentions clear from the beginning of the match.

Love and Peace!

Ernst Middendorp

Kaizer Chiefs Head Coach